NTL or Smart?

christophicus

I am getting broadband soon and was wondering what people think is the best service.At the moment im looking at the €35 NTL package which provides a 2Mb/s line and the smart service which is also €35 and a 2 Mb/s line.

Drapper

Ntl

christophicus

Drapper wrote:

Ntl

Why NTL are they better in someway?I have had previous expeariance with them using their digital servine and their custermer service left alot to be desired.

Drapper

christophicus wrote:

Why NTL are they better in someway?I have had previous expeariance with them using their digital servine and their custermer service left alot to be desired.

read the numerous threads, they are the best of a bad bunch !

bk

NTL

A few differences between NTL's and Smarts package.

- NTL offers first 3 months free at 3m.
- You get the analogue TV service free for 12 months (worth €19 per month)
- NTL is 200k upload compared to 128k from Smart
- With NTL you can upgrade to 3m or downgrade to 1m at any time, depending on your needs.

geecee

Hi BK
Where do NTL have the offer of the 12 months free analogue tv when you sign up for BB?

Do you have a link?

I signed up for NTL this morning and the only offer i saw was the 3 free months BB?

Mad thing is they will install in on Thursday... talking about quick turnaround!

Now all i have to do is try to cancel my uTV....

zuma

If I had 2 actual connections into my house and wouldnt be forced to actually order and make sure the chosen connection is setup on time and such...then I would pick Smart!

No CAP and the stability of DSL over cable(people cable is unstable D15 and it will get worse) are the major plus sides.

Realistically NTL without a doubt as Smart is almost impossible to get for many,many,many reasons of which eircom is a prime culprit!!!

Marcopolo85

zuma wrote:

No CAP and the stability of DSL over cable(people cable is unstable D15 and it will get worse) are the major plus sides.

NTL spot on in Waterford..... (I'm on a 1 Meg):D

zuma

And waterford has had NTL for a month or two???

Hardly a great stress test of their infrastructure.

Drapper

zuma wrote:

If I had 2 actual connections into my house and wouldnt be forced to actually order and make sure the chosen connection is setup on time and such...then I would pick Smart!

No CAP and the stability of DSL over cable(people cable is unstable D15 and it will get worse) are the major plus sides.

Realistically NTL without a doubt as Smart is almost impossible to get for many,many,many reasons of which eircom is a prime culprit!!!

PArts of D15 have been rewired by NTL over the past 2 weeks and mine has been sorted out! it only took them 7 months from my inital complaint !

any way i've been on all DSL, Wireless and Cable and I agree DSL is the most stable of them all ! (but out here in the middle of the bog in D15 we cant get it, because we are sooooooo far from the exchange ! ehhh 1.5 miles !!)

bk

geecee wrote:

Hi BK
Where do NTL have the offer of the 12 months free analogue tv when you sign up for BB?

It isn't advertised on their website, I was told about it when I called up asking about BB and how much it would cost. That was about 3 months ago, I assume they still have the offer.

BTW we actually decided to get 3 NTL Digital subscriptions on top of it, so we pay for digital but not for anaolgue.

bk

Drapper wrote:

PArts of D15 have been rewired by NTL over the past 2 weeks and mine has been sorted out! it only took them 7 months from my inital complaint !

any way i've been on all DSL, Wireless and Cable and I agree DSL is the most stable of them all ! (but out here in the middle of the bog in D15 we cant get it, because we are sooooooo far from the exchange ! ehhh 1.5 miles !!)

Not in my experience, I've had both DSL and NTL and NTL is much more stable then DSL in my experience, while having higher sppeds and lower latency.

Of course I don't live in D15, so I can certainly understand your frustration. However from a technical point of view, cable is superior and has greater capability, that is why the majority of BB users in the US are on cable rather then DSL.

paulm17781

bk wrote:

Not in my experience, I've had both DSL and NTL and NTL is much more stable then DSL in my experience, while having higher sppeds and lower latency.

I think as a technology DSL is more stable, but this is not my experience in Ireland either.

Cable good, DSL bad!

Gadgie

I believe the ntl 12 months free basic TV offer ended on July 15th, and it was only open to new subscribers ("brand new customers only!") in a house that had previously been connected.

Infini

unless your in dublin 15 go for NTL. The network there is known to be bad due to age and overload but Ive had it for nearly a year in Dublin 7 and I never had any problems with it that could'nt be fixed.

christophicus

When you get smart I presume you have to use their telephone service on that line ?

Marcopolo85

zuma wrote:

And waterford has had NTL for a month or two???

Hardly a great stress test of their infrastructure.

Point taken.

But at least it worked - first time. And consistently clocks one meg......all the time.

christophicus

Im actually in the waterford area myself,Im in Ardkeen.

Is there a download cap on the Ntl broadband?
and looking at funds at the moment I have realised that i can only afford the 1Mb NTL or the 2Mb Smart ,I presume the 2Mb smart would preform better then the 1Mb NTL?

bk

christophicus wrote:

Im actually in the waterford area myself,Im in Ardkeen.

Is there a download cap on the Ntl broadband?
and looking at funds at the moment I have realised that i can only afford the 1Mb NTL or the 2Mb Smart ,I presume the 2Mb smart would preform better then the 1Mb NTL?

Em, the 2mb Smart and 2mb NTL are the same price €35 per month. You get free line rental with Smart and free TV with NTL. Don't forget that NTL gives you the 3mb free for the first 3 months.

christophicus

Yoou dont get that free tv thing anymore that offer is over.It works out cheaper with samrt so I can afford the 2Mbone because with smart you dont have to pay line rentalwhere as with NTL i would still have to pay for an eircom line so i would have to pay for the line aswell as the broadband but with smart i would only have to pay for the broadband.

christophicus

Ok I have another question.We have two telephone lines in the house,ie two seperate numbers,they both enter the house through one terminal and i was wondering if it is possible to keep one line on eircom and then have the other line with smart for the broadband /phone service?

paulm17781

Yes

GarfieldConnoll

christophicus wrote:

Ok I have another question.We have two telephone lines in the house,ie two seperate numbers,they both enter the house through one terminal and i was wondering if it is possible to keep one line on eircom and then have the other line with smart for the broadband /phone service?

It depends on how eircom delivered the second line to the house. If the second line was provided on a spare path, then yes, Smart could unbundle the second line, provide a new number and broadband on that line.
To know for sure, we'd have to submit an order for the second line. If it was a spare path, the order would be accepted and proceeded. If it wasn't a spare path, the order would be rejected and neither line would be affected.

Garfield.

christophicus

Ok its actually the original line that we want smart on and then the newer one to keep the eircom,does this make a difference?

GarfieldConnoll

christophicus wrote:

Ok its actually the original line that we want smart on and then the newer one to keep the eircom,does this make a difference?

Shouldn't.

Garfield.

christophicus

Ok and there shouldnt be any major delay or anything should there because we have never had broadband before?

GarfieldConnoll

christophicus wrote:

Ok and there shouldnt be any major delay or anything should there because we have never had broadband before?

If the order's clean (no errors), then from when we submit the order to eircom should take 10-12 working days, though it can come in faster than that.

Garfield.

christophicus

But from what i have heard the order is quite frequently not "clean".would i be correct in saying this?

christophicus

Is there no way that i can check if they are too seperate lines myself?

Blaster99

Go to Eircom's ADSL availability checker. If you get a pass there you will get a pass from Smart also.

Or just order the line and see how it goes. If you don't have a connection within 10 or 12 days or whatever your limit is, then cancel and move on. There's not much point in worrying about this, is there?

JNive

both scenarios look identical on your end, it is dependant on how the line is provisioned in the exchange since it requires a separate physical connection i believe, since you dont have any broadband service existing, i dont imagine anything should go wrong, just put the order through to smart, along with the direct debit, since the direct debit mandate is required first to regard it as the 'order' . then you should know within the 2 weeks whether or not eircom have accepted the order and unbundled to eircom, or if they have rejected it. It should cost you anything nor affect any service in this period

christophicus

Would the upload speed of only 128mb be ok for gaming?

dub45

christophicus wrote:

Would the upload speed of only 128mb be ok for gaming?

People seem to more concerned about pings than upload speeds but if you are not happy with the 128 then Smart have the
answer for you.

christophicus

Yeah i saw that but im haveing a hard time convincing my mom to get get the basic package.Is the basic packeage good for gaming?

JNive

128K is good for gaming


most of the time however
dont have anything else whatsoever on the line
that better not be a 54-man server you are playing on lol
or even using teamspeak for example, very common with games,
hence yes, it will ostly be ok, but you are still a bit restricted on what extent you can enjoy all that gaming can utilise

pings would be the same, provided the 128 upload doesnt get choked in the first place lol.

Jilm

christophicus wrote:

Yeah i saw that but im haveing a hard time convincing my mom to get get the basic package.Is the basic packeage good for gaming?

If you're not sharing the connection with anyone at the time, the basic package should be fine for XBox Live / PC gaming.

Otherwise consider the new 256k upload product.

christophicus

Yeah but the thing is there is nothing(that i can think off) that she does with the internet that will benefit fromthe extra up load.Would i be ok downloading music at the same time as playing online?

GarfieldConnoll

christophicus wrote:

Yeah but the thing is there is nothing(that i can think off) that she does with the internet that will benefit fromthe extra up load.Would i be ok downloading music at the same time as playing online?

Christophicus,

I understand this is a NTL vs. Smart conversation, but from a Smart perspective:

You are most likely paying two line rentals at present. So for one line you're paying €24.18 a month (standard line rental). For an additional €10.82 a month (€35 -€24.18) you're getting 2Mb/ 128K a month. That's 35 cent a day! For 53 cent a day you can get 2Mb/ 256K.

I'd move away from thoughts regarding downloading music AND playing games and figure out how to persuade your family that you'll be a better: person/ citizen/ student/ workhorse/ etc for 53 cent a day.

Garfield.

TimTim

JNive wrote:

128K is good for gaming


most of the time however
dont have anything else whatsoever on the line
that better not be a 54-man server you are playing on lol
or even using teamspeak for example, very common with games,
hence yes, it will ostly be ok, but you are still a bit restricted on what extent you can enjoy all that gaming can utilise

pings would be the same, provided the 128 upload doesnt get choked in the first place lol.

I play planetside with teamspeak and find no problems with it. I'm on BT Ireland 2Mb Plus

christophicus

TimTim wrote:

I play planetside with teamspeak and find no problems with it. I'm on BT Ireland 2Mb Plus

Whats the upload speed with the bt Ireland 2mb plus?

Christophicus,

GarfieldConnoll wrote:

I understand this is a NTL vs. Smart conversation, but from a Smart perspective:

You are most likely paying two line rentals at present. So for one line you're paying €24.18 a month (standard line rental). For an additional €10.82 a month (€35 -€24.18) you're getting 2Mb/ 128K a month. That's 35 cent a day! For 53 cent a day you can get 2Mb/ 256K.

I'd move away from thoughts regarding downloading music AND playing games and figure out how to persuade your family that you'll be a better: person/ citizen/ student/ workhorse/ etc for 53 cent a day.

Garfield.

I know its really stupid that my family wont change.we are using Eircom 60 at the moment and vartec so we would actually be saving about €20 a month with the basic smart package which is the one I am trying to get them to get because I dont see anything that will benifit them with the extra upload speed.

christophicus

Will I have super smooth gaming with 256k upload ?i might just pay the extra euro myself!

GarfieldConnoll

christophicus wrote:

Will I have super smooth gaming with 256k upload ?i might just pay the extra euro myself!

There are xBox approved ISPs with only 128K uploads. If MS reckon 128 is acceptable, then 256K should be 'super smooth'.

Garfield.

dub45

christophicus wrote:

Will I have super smooth gaming with 256k upload ?i might just pay the extra euro myself!

You could always start with the 128 and upgrade afterwards it it wasnt super smooth enough!.

crawler

GarfieldConnoll wrote:

There are xBox approved ISPs with only 128K uploads. If MS reckon 128 is acceptable, then 256K should be 'super smooth'.

Garfield.

Garfield you know well that it's more to do with latency, Jitter, Peering, QoS and such stuff rather than bandwidth Granted minimum bandwidth is required...